NHL Draft Prospect Profile #32: Colton Sissons

Colton Sissons is a rugged power forward prospect who has grown in the tough and tumble WHL playing for the Kelowna Rockets. Sissons is a character guy who excudes leadership. His coaches in Kelowna have seen this as they named Sissons the team’s Captain prior to the start of the season, and with just 1 year of WHL experience under his belt at the time. Sissons continues the run of power forward prospects in this section of our draft board, along with Martin Frk, Tom Wilson, and Stefan Matteau.

Sissons is the type of player that every coach dreams about. He oozes intangibles. He’s a great all-around player, who plays hard in all three zones, and who never takes a shift off. Sissons will go through a wall if he thinks it will help his team win. He’s a heart and soul type guy.

Sissons also possesses some offensive skill. He’s got a hard and accurate shot. Sissons is also a good playmaker, he has good vision and can set up teammates in the offensive zone. Sissons has decent stickhandling, but he is far more likely to try and bull his way through a defender and take the puck right to the net, than he is to try to get around him with fancy moves. Sissons is a strong forechecker and his tireless work ethic helps him to win many board battles.

Sissons is a sound defensive player. This is another area his non-stop motor and ability to win board battles comes into play. He is good positionally in the defensive zone and blocks a lot of shots. We have often seen Sissons used in a matchup type of role where he is expected to both play against the other teams’ top line, and bring his much needed offence to the Rockets’ attack.

Sissons biggest weakness is his skating. His stride is unorthodox. His top end speed is average, maybe even a hair above average, but its nothing to right home about. His agility needs work, and he could also stand to develop a quicker first step and better acceleration. This is what has made the difference between Sissons being ranked as first round talent and falling to the 2nd round on our draft rankings. Sissons will also need to bulk up before moving on to the NHL level, however we don’t consider this a big deal, as it is common in 17 and 18 year old prospects.

Sissons work ethic and intangibles make him a solid bet to be an NHL player. The question in his game is around his skating and may make the difference between a 2nd and third line player. If Sissons can improve on that weakness we could see him playing a role as a top 6 forward in the NHL. We’d compare Sissons maximum potential to develop into a player similar to a Ryan Clowe of the San Jose Sharks.